


Burn Slow

by moonintheknight



Category: Free!
Genre: M/M, SouMako - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-21
Updated: 2018-09-21
Packaged: 2019-07-15 01:22:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,407
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16052534
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moonintheknight/pseuds/moonintheknight
Summary: Sousuke is a grumpy-yet-sexy police officer. Makoto is a sweet and shy physical therapist. Honey, you do the math.





	Burn Slow

Yamazaki Sousuke cleared his throat as he shifted noisily in the small plastic chair. The poorly-crafted piece of furniture was much too small for his large frame and, try as he might, he just couldn't get comfortable. The elderly woman sitting next to him shot him an annoyed glance as he bumped her arm involuntarily, knocking her _Reader's Digest_ to the floor.

 

"Sorry," he said hastily, but the woman just huffed and moved to a new chair across the room.

 

Sousuke sighed and glanced at the clock. 4:08 p.m. Hashimoto-san, his physical therapist, was almost never late, but Sousuke's appointment had been scheduled for 3:30. He could feel his butt getting numb from sitting in this shitty chair for so long.

 

"Our apologies for the delay, Yamazaki-san," the pretty receptionist called over to him a few moments later. "Apparently Hashimoto-kun is having a bit of car trouble this afternoon. We're trying to find you a replacement doctor."

 

"No worries," Sousuke mumbled, but internally he couldn't help but be a little pissed. _What the hell?_ _This is Tokyo - can't he just use public transport like the rest of us?_

Sousuke himself had used this appointment to get a little extra exercise, and ran the entire 3.7 miles from the station to the clinic for his once-a-week checkup with his physical therapist. Ever since high school, when he had dreamed of becoming a competitive swimmer, he had struggled with some serious shoulder injuries that required corrective surgery. On top of that, Sousuke re-injured his shoulder when he broke up a convenience store robbery a little over six months ago, which landed him back in surgery and back in physical therapy with Hashimoto.

 

Stretching his long legs out in front of him in an attempt to get more comfortable, Sousuke cast his gaze back on the pretty receptionist, who was busy typing at her computer. Maybe he should flirt with her a little bit to kill some time?

Sousuke was about to make his way over to the desk with a tried-and-true pickup line when a side door opened and a young aide stuck his head through the doorway. "Yamazaki Sousuke? We're ready for you now."

 

Sousuke followed the aide down the hall and into a small checkup room, where he took his measurements and vitals quickly as he sat on the examination table.

 

"I know you haven't worked with him before," the aide said in a clipped tone, "But Tachibana-san will just ask you a few rudimentary questions and then get you out in the main room for your exercises." He cast a vaguely dismissive glance towards  Sousuke's sweaty cutoff tank top, a relic from a station potluck a few years back. "I see you dressed appropriately for potential exercises."

 

"Decided to put on my best outfit for the new therapist," Sousuke joked, but the aide only simpered condescendingly.

 

"Makoto -- erm, Tachibana-san will be in shortly." The door clicked behind the nurse softly as he walked out.

 

Sousuke fiddled with his grimey cutoff shirt, wishing he had worn something different. A female therapist? That was new -  he hadn't seen many female PT's during his previous appointments. How refreshing.

 

What wasn't refreshing, however, was the amount of time that kept going by while Sousuke waited. _This is ridiculous,_ he thought. _Hashimoto should have just rescheduled-_

Just then, the door was _finally_ pushed open. "About time," Sousuke snorted, then sat up and immediately wished he hadn't.

All thoughts of ridiculous wait times, pretty receptionists, cramped chairs and snotty aides completely fled from Sousuke's mind. Because the person who entered the room with a harried "My apologies, Yamazaki-san!" was nothing less than an absolutely gorgeous _man._

"You'll have to forgive me," Tachibana began, shutting the door behind him and smiling cheerily down at Sousuke. "I wasn't expecting to take on Hashimoto-san's patients today, so I'm a little behind. Car trouble in Tokyo! Why not take the train, eh?"

 

Sousuke just gaped ( _like a complete_ _idiot,_ he'd think to himself later) in response. Who could blame him? He certainly wasn't expecting his new physical therapist to be a kind-eyed, young, tall and tan _hottie._

 

"You're not a girl," Sousuke finally blurted, then wanted to immediately strangle himself with a stethoscope for sounding so stupid.

 

Tachibana laughed. "You caught me! My name throws people off, I know." He pulled a pair of dark rimmed glasses out of his pocket and took out Sousuke's file from its holder on the door.  The effect of Tachibana's light green eyes magnified by his glasses coupled with those _arms_ in the slightly rumpled long-sleeved t-shirt with rolled-up sleeves almost gave Sousuke a bloody nose. _Damn, he's fine._

Desperately trying to gain control of himself, Sousuke cleared his throat roughly as Tachibana flipped through his file. "Okay, so we're looking at a torn rotator cuff? How is it feeling today, Yamazaki-san?"

 

"Um, not bad," Sousuke began, relieved that his voice sounded even. "It hurt a little yesterday when I swam, though." He absentmindedly reached up to touch his shoulder, and only then did he remember that he probably stank to high heaven. _I'm never running here again._

 

"A swimmer, huh?" Tachibana asked conversationally, leaning down to examine Sousuke's shoulder, grasping it with his right hand. "I used to swim too, back in the day."

 

"It's a good way to stay in shape," Sousuke commented, trying to ignore how good Tachibana's shampoo smelled (like sage and eucalyptus). "I wish I could do it more often."

 

"I know Hashimoto-san has you doing specific exercises, but let's not push it," Tachibana was now moving Sousuke's arm back and forth, testing the flexibility of his shoulder. _Nice hands._ "You still have a decent amount of healing to do before you're back to full health. How are your regular appointments coming along?"

 

"Not bad. Twice a week, still, obviously." God, Tachibana's eyes were really pretty. What a nice cerulean green. "A lot of the same exercises as that first time I injured it."

 

"Good," Tachibana was still studying Sousuke's shoulder, handling him with the lightest of touches. "Then we'll stick to that for now. Let's dial it back maybe once a week, shall we? I don't think Hashimoto-san will mind." He looked up, directly into Sousuke's eyes, and for just a moment the two of them stared at one another.

 

"If you say so," Sousuke murmured, and Tachibana finally moved away. Sousuke swore he saw a faint blush across his cheeks. _Hmm._ "Not sure I'm going to be able to take it easy with my job, though."

 

"Um," Tachibana began, siting in the chair across from Sousuke and peering once more at his file. "You're a police officer, correct? I take it you're in the field often."

 

Sousuke smiled despite himself. ' _The field.' Cute._

"Yes, most days I am," he replied, leaning back against the wall behind him. "Was on desk duty for two months at the station after I banged up my shoulder, though. They're letting me back in pretty slowly."

 

Tachibana raised his eyebrows. "That's tough. What precinct? I live near the one just off of 47th."

 

Sousuke grinned. "That's where I work."

 

"Small world!" Tachibana exclaimed. "I only moved to the area a few months ago. It's pretty nice." He jumped up to his feet and shot another blinding smile at Sousuke. "I could sit here and talk all day, but we gotta get you stretched out. Ready?"

 

 _I bet you could stretch me out,_ Sousuke thought before he could stop himself. _No. Get a grip!!_

Sousuke followed Tachibana down the hallway towards the main gym area, futilely trying to ignore how nice his ass looked in his stretch joggers, or how the florescent lights seemed to radiate angelically off of Tachibana's olive hair. By the way he was carrying himself, it was obvious to Soususke that Tachibana had an extremely athletic body- _must be all that swimming_ -under that slightly-too-large-sized clothing.

 

"Okay," Tachibana began, leading Sousuke over to a spare mat in the large wood-floored mirrored room. "Let's start with a few stretches. I know Hashimoto-san spends time with a good ball toss, but we'll abbreviate that and do a massage too. Sound good?"

 

"Are you the one massaging?" Sousuke's grin turned almost wolflike as Tachibana nodded. "Sounds perfect."

 

Now, that's _definitely_ a blush.

 

"S-so," Tachibana began as he was midway through stretching Sousuke (Souskuke couldn't help but grin-he was on his back and Tachibana was almost crotch-to-crotch with him, not a bad sight at all). "If you're in that neighborhood-do you ever frequent the...er...Pink Shark?"

 

"Ah, the Red Shark?" Sousuke corrected, wincing as Makoto stretched his shoulder very far back. "My friend owns the place, actually." Tachibana laughed, and when he did his whole face lit up. Sousuke felt his heart flutter.

 

"Another coincidence! Well, it's a great spot, your friend has done a wonderful job with the place," Tachibana glanced once more down directly into Sousuke's eyes, and then stood up straight. "Let's do a few medicine ball tosses, shall we?"

 

"We shall," Sousuke agreed.

 

He had never had this much fun or entertainment at physical therapy before. Most of his PT's had been middle-aged bores who liked to lecture him about how much his job was harming his physique.

 

Not so for Tachibana. As they tossed the 12-pound medicine ball from various locations, Tachibana peppered Sousuke with questions about his job, his family, his extracurriculars and his friends. By the time they got to the deep tissue massage, Sousuke was utterly at ease, almost enjoying the way Tachibana made his muscles scream with the assured stroke of his fingers.

 

Normally Sousuke didn't go for guys who were so sweet and seemingly innocent, and he definitely didn't go for guys who were almost as tall as himself. But the combination of angelic demeanor, obvious smarts and killer looks that Tachibana was working with really got him going. Tachibana seemed like the type you could rile up pretty easily.

 

"So," Tachibana began near the very end of their session, "As I said, let's try and scale the PT back to once a week. Your shoulder, while still sensitive, is healing well and looks like we won't be needing any additional medication. Your scans look pretty good from last month, so we won't have to redo them, but I want you to make sure to contact Hashimoto-san if you feel any additional discomfort, okay? Otherwise-"

 

"What about you?"

 

"Hmm?"

 

"I mean, can I contact you instead?" Sousuke tilted his head. "In case I feel any, ah, discomfort?"

 

Sousuke knew he was laying it on a little thick but, again, who could blame him?

 

"S-sure," to his credit, Tachibana didn't blush this time. He fished out his business card from his pocket. "Though I don't think Hashimoto-san will be thrilled that I'm poaching his clients. Feel free to call anytime, Yamazaki-san."

 

"Sousuke." Sousuke reached out to take the card, his finger grazing Tachibana's hand ever so slightly.

 

Tachibana looked up in surprise.

_"_ Just 'Sousuke is fine, Tachibana-san." Sousuke said smoothly, slipping the card into his pocket without breaking eye contact.

 

"....Ah. Well, let me walk you back to the front desk."

 

Sousuke trailed behind Tachibana as they left the room, wondering if he had been a touch too aggressive. Maybe hitting on his substitute doctor was over the line?

 

"Our receptionist will get you settled," Tachibana said, turning around and giving Sousuke another sunny smile. "Sorry again for the wait. It was great to meet you, Sousuke-san."

 

 _Aha! Maybe he's not so shy after all._ "No worries. Take care, Tachibana-san." Sousuke shot him one last half-grin and turned towards the pretty receptionist.

 

"Makoto."

 

"What's that?" Sousuke whipped back around. Makoto was still wearing that smile that made his features just _glow._

"Just 'Makoto' is fine," Makoto held his gaze before turning back towards the patient rooms. "Enjoy your run back to the station, Sousuke-san!"

 

***

"Oh, for chrissakes. Your _physical therapist_?"

 

"Don't give me that look," Sousuke downed the rest of his beer and set his glass on the bar. "And no, not _my_ PT, technically, so don't get preachy on me."

 

"I'm not getting preachy," Matsuoka Rin laughed as he grabbed Sousuke's glass from behind the bar and started refilling it without even asking. "I just didn't think you were so desperate that you would have to go after some guy who's paid to fondle your balls."

 

"For fuck's sake, Rin!" Sousuke snapped. "He's an therapist for my _shoulder,_ not a general doctor. And you weren't even going to ask if I wanted another?" he asked as Rin set down a full pint in front of him.

 

"I'll just add it to your tab," Rin snickered. "Don't act like you didn't want it."

 

Sousuke's shift at the precinct had ended a little over an hour ago, and now he was posted up in his usual spot at the Red Shark, the hole-in-the-wall bar owned by his best friend. Sousuke usually dropped in on Rin for dinner a few times a week, tonight included.

 

"I'm not desperate, by the way," Sousuke retorted, munching on his burger. "You should have seen him."

 

"Total babe, huh?" Rin sighed as he got another patron a drink. "With doctor money too, I see you Sousuke! How old was this guy?"

 

"Rin, he's not a doctor. And that's the thing. He was our age, maybe a couple years older at most," Sousuke chewed on a fry contemplatively. "He was damn good looking, too, even you'd think so."

 

"Hmm. Maybe, although your type recently has been particularly young, stupid and disposable," Rin observed.

 

"Wow, _that's_ a nice way to question my judgment," Sousuke thought for a moment. "And he can't be _too_ stupid, he said he's been here at the Shark a few times."

 

"Oh yeah? He's local? What's he look like?" Rin asked, eyeing a particularly boisterous group of guys playing pool in the corner.

 

"Apparently he lives around here somewhere," Sousuke smiled to himself, thinking of Tachibana's -- _Makoto's_ \-- warm smile. "And he's, I don't know, 6'1 or 6'2? Light brown hair, tan skin, great smile. Obviously good body-"

 

"Okay, okay, I get the picture. I'll be on the lookout," Rin groaned, then smiled at Sousuke wickedly. "So did you put any moves on him, or did you just stare at him with that grumpy look that you call a smolder?"

 

Sousuke lobbed a ketchup-covered fry at him. "Fuck off, Rin."

**Author's Note:**

> My hand slipped and this SouMako was born!
> 
> Damn you, Free! Damn you to hell.
> 
> Please tell me how much you love/hate this...pls


End file.
